Our skin naturally sheds cells every day. However, this cell-shedding process gets sluggish, which makes your skin look dull. Aesthetic treatments involving exfoliation, such as microdermabrasion and chemical peel, can fully remove dead cells and reveal smoother and brighter skin. Microdermabrasion involves using a tool to lightly exfoliate the exterior skin layer and remove the dead cells. While a chemical peel involves using a chemical exfoliant solution to remove the deeper imperfections on the surface and reveal brighter skin underneath.
Both these aesthetic treatments are performed on the face, shoulders, neck, and chest to get brighter skin. If you want to reveal your smoother skin by removing the dead cells, you should consider getting either microdermabrasion or chemical peel. However, before getting either of these two treatments, you should learn how they function, benefit your skin, and their differences.
Microdermabrasion is a process of exfoliating the skin and using a device to remove dead cells from the topmost skin surface. This device uses high-quality exfoliating elements, such as diamond dust or crystal, which makes its exterior gritty. The doctor starts this treatment of clean skin without makeup and dirt. The device tip gets pushed against the skin with a subtle pressure to remove the dead cells.
The exfoliation device looks like a donut with a main opening connected to the suction tool to remove the dirt, debris, and dead skin cells. The full treatment process usually takes approximately 20 minutes depending on the total of passes done on the skin. As this treatment is non-invasive, most patients can resume their everyday activities immediately after the treatment without experiencing any side effects.
How Does Chemical Peel Work?
A chemical peel, also called “derma peeling” or “chemexfoliation,” involves the application of a chemical solution, which injures the topmost layer to reveal the beneath the skin. The top layer gradually peels off, which reveals smoother and youthful skin with fewer wrinkles, fine lines, and a brighter complexion. A chemical peel is mostly performed on the face and neck to fix certain skin concerns, such as wrinkles, acne, scars, freckles, age spots, sun spots, and uneven skin tone. The doctor decides the peel depth depending on the skin condition and aesthetic goals.
Here is how the chemical peels of different depths work:
Light/Lunchtime Chemical Peel
This type of peel is performed in a series and shows little enhancement over time. The outermost skin layer gets removed, which reduces the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines, acne, and uneven skin tone and adds a healthy glow to your skin. The recovery takes a few hours or days with zero or little downtime. Something like lactic peel, glycolic peel or yellow peel.
Medium Chemical Peel
A medium peel gives you fresh and smooth skin and removes the topmost layer and the upper portion of the medium skin layer. This type of chemical peel may be the right choice to reduce the appearance of wrinkles, acne scars, age spots, and discoloration. The recovery from medium chemical peels may take at least 7 days. Like Meline peel and cosmelan peel.
Deep Chemical Peel
A deep chemical peel penetrates deeply into the lower medium skin layer and delivers significant results. The deep chemical peel takes the longest time to recover. It reduces the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines, blotchy skin, stubborn acne scars, sun-damaged skin, and precancerous growths, known as “actinic keratosis.” A deep chemical peel needs pretreatment for approximately 8 weeks. It is a one-time treatment if applied on the face, which has a downtime. Like phenol peel or TCA Peel
Microdermabrasion vs Chemical Peel – Comparison
The table below shows a comparison between microdermabrasion and chemical peel depending on certain parameters.
Parameters | Microdermabrasion | Chemical Peel |
Process | Physical exfoliation with a diamond-tipped wand | Chemical exfoliation with acids |
Targeted skin concerns | Wrinkles, fine lines, acne scars, whiteheads, blackheads, and uneven tone | Wrinkles, fine lines, hyperpigmentation, acne scars, age spots, and uneven tone |
Penetration depth | Superficial | Ranges from superficial to deep strength depending on the peel |
Suitable skin types | All types of skin | Suited for most types of skin, mostly the darker complexion |
Frequency | Treatment can be performed more frequently | Fewer treatments are required |
Results | Slow enhancement in skin tone and texture | Deliver visible results after a single session |
Recovery time | Quick | A few days to a week or longer |
Downtime | No or minimum downtime | Downtime of a medium chemical peel takes 1 to 2 weeks, however, redness may stay for months |
Risks | Minimal and rare side effects, such as dryness or redness | Irritation, infection, scars and hyperpigmentation |
Cost | Less expensive than a chemical peel | More expensive than microdermabrasion |
